Pay move ‘could ruin our Xmas’

HOSPITAL STAFF WORRIED NEW MONTHLY PAYMENTS WILL LEAVE THEM UNABLE TO PAY BILLS

ROYAL Derby Hospital has come under fire from workers who fear a change in the way they will be paid could “ruin Christmas”.

Flexible clerical workers, who are paid weekly, are worried that new monthly payments brought in by hospital bosses could leave them unable to pay bills over the festive period.

Weekly paydays for the 200 staff affected will cease from December 21, so flexible clerical staff working from December 17 until December 31 will not get paid until January 25. This means they will “have two weeks’ pay to last them a month”.

The hospital trust says it is offering staff an advance on their pay to support them during the change, if they wish to take it.

A letter to staff, which has been seen by the Derby Telegraph, reads: “As you are aware, the flexible staffing operations from Derby Teaching Royal Derby Hospital, where workers face changed payment arrangements

Hospitals were transferred to the newly-formed Derby Health Staffing Ltd (DHSL) in July. It was agreed to regularly review the effectiveness of this organisational change to determine if proposed outcomes are being met. We have also been conscious to listen to feedback from workers and our managers.

“A decision has been taken to reintroduce an internal trust bank provision for clerical workers at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), with effect from December 17. This means all current assignments for clerical workers will cease to be supplied through Derby Health Staffing Ltd (DHSL) on December 16, with a final weekly payday of December 21”.

All flexible staff were moved to weekly pay in July but now flexible clerical staff have been moved back to monthly pay from December.

One clerical worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “There are a lot of staff who don’t know what they are going to do. Many have rent, mortgages and children. Now this has been dropped on us.

“It just like this has been done to save money. It has come before Christmas. Why didn’t they do this before now? I don’t want to take the early pay because I have some savings I can use, but not all staff have that and are going to suffer”.

Roger Smith, director of operational HR and workforce integration at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, said: “We have remodelled our bank services and made changes to the way clerical flexible workers are paid.

““We recognise this may cause challenges and are offering advance payments to support staff as they adjust to the new pay schedule.”